Mertz’s promise to close the borders to illegal entry on his first day in office in Berlin has a Trumpian sound to it.
The President of the United States has pushed through a flurry of executive orders and actions to fight illegal immigration since he re-entered the White House this week.
In Germany, both the centre-left chancellor and Mertz are aware that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has consistently come second in the polls, has made immigration a major issue.
AfD leader Alisa Weidel has called for a vote in the German parliament next week on closing Germany’s borders and returning illegal migrants. “The knife terror in Aschaffenburg must now have consequences,” she said on social media.
Some critics will argue that Scholz and Mertz took a tougher stance now too late. Others will argue that the mainstream parties’ shift to the right may simply bolster the AfD’s case.
In any case, German politics does not lend itself to a set of presidential-style decrees, given the need to form coalitions with other parties.
The leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, said that Mertz will not be able to make such changes if he joins a coalition with the Social Democrats or the Green Party.
Nancy Feser, who is both the interior minister and Olaf Scholz’s same-party colleague, suggested that “some people now in campaign mode are making largely fact-free arguments.”
“I can only strongly warn against the misuse of such a terrible act for populism, which only benefits right-wing populists with their contempt for humanity,” she said.
A 41-year-old man killed in a knife attack on Wednesday has been praised for allegedly coming to the aid of a kindergarten group and saving the lives of other children.
Another two-year-old girl of Syrian origin was stabbed in the neck.
A 72-year-old man was seriously stabbed, and a kindergarten teacher broke her arm.
